Bel Kaufman

Bella "Bel" Kaufman (May 10, 1911 – July 25, 2014) was an American teacher and author, best known for writing the 1965 bestselling novel, Up the Down Staircase.

Early life

Bella's father, Michael Kaufman (Mikhail Y. Koyfman) and her mother, Lala (Lyalya) Kaufman (née Rabinowitz) were both from Russia and married in 1909. Bella Kaufman was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1911, where her father was studying medicine. The family subsequently returned to Russia where her father completed his studies. Her father eventually became a physician, and her mother, the second oldest daughter of famed Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem, later established herself as a writer under the name Lala Kaufman.

Bel was the oldest of two children. Her brother Sherwin was born nine years later and is a retired physician living in New York City. Bel's native language was Russian, and she was raised in Odessa and Kiev (present-day Ukraine). As a child, she published her first poem, "Spring," in an Odessa magazine. Life there was very difficult.